Hi,
First, thanks to all of you who responded to my earlier post for favorite food in Newfoundland. It looks like we are going to eat very well. As I stated in the earlier post, we are planning a trip to Newfoundland in 2013. We are planning on spending 6-8 weeks on the island. I would be very interested in what is the best time of year to visit and also feedback on your favorite campgrounds. Also, do I need to book campgrounds ahead of time? I plan to book the ferry for the trip over and will book for the trip back once I'm over there.We are planning to cover the West coast and then move across to Twillingate, Bonavista, etc. We will do the Avalon and then travel back to catch the short ferry. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
We didn't book any CG's ahead and had no problems, not even once.
We loved the places, food, and people. Wife and I both voted Newfoundland our favorite trip in over 200,000 RV miles.
Returnming we called a day ahead for ferry. Nope, reservations were out a week. They said to try standby. We "camped" one nite a ferry slip in standby line. Got ferry the next day.
IMHO forget the reservations and explore when and where you want.
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
Australian Shepherd
2010 Ford Expedition TV
2010 Outback 230RS Toybox, 5390# UVW, 6800# Loaded Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories I can't be lost because I don't care where this lovely road is going
I always wanted to take the boat tours in Gros Morne National Park in mid June. In my 24.5 years of residence I never managed that. There would be more spring drainage coming off the high ground at that time.
Also, when it comes to a good glacier year, May and June are the best times. The last good one around the glaciers were still around at the beginning of August. Remember the "iceberg finder site".
& next year may well be one. Lots and lots of melt has been occurring on and around Greenland this summer. That could well mean lots of icebergs reaching Labrador and Newfoundland next spring.
We're in Newfoundland now...have met distant relatives as we've traveled and visited family graves as well as the town where DH's mother was born. We only had three weeks but have loved it.
We did as you plan to do, started on the west side and drove up to St. Anthony. We will return west starting tomorrow for the return ferry.
You probably can wing it without reservations, though several CGs were full with no vacancy signs. One was Grand Falls Windsor, a good stop on the long drive cross island. You may find full campgrounds in towns that are celebrating a Come Home Year. We did reserve. You can always call ahead. You should have seen the line of about ten RVs waiting to get into Grand Codroy, all off the ferry, the evening we arrived.
Your own discoveries will be the most fun for you. Ours was an RV park with nine spots in the town of La Scie on the Baie Verte Peninsula. It was only 20 amp, but had space enough for a large trailer and a big class A, so no problem there. It had a spectacular view of the sea. The manager, Beverly Shea, has a heart of gold and was great fun to chat with. She suggested that for wifi we could visit the little Outport Museum and tea room, which we did. Loved it so much, we stayed on for lunch and came back for breakfast. The owner, Valerie, prepares delicious traditional foods like Brewis and Jigg's dinner, and was a wonderful lady.
As everyone says, the people of NL are the best. We stayed at Trinity Cabins RV park to visit the town's historic buildings, also the Bonavista area. The owners were wonderful, which more than makes up for the modest facilities. They have a sort of canteen with free wifi and great ice cream cones...local people stop in, and it's like a clubhouse. Very warm memories.
St. John's is a great city to spend a few days. Take the Quidi Vidi Brewery tour and visit The Rooms, Cape Spear and Signal Hill. We loved the downtown area with the colorful jelly bean houses. Get a DVD of the TV show "Republic of Doyle" filmed here.
But most of all, we loved the outports. So many scenic fishing villages to wander into, a photographer's dream.
Someone posted about Elliston, great for puffin viewing ...free! Whales offshore, too. We saw no icebergs but we came mid July... You should see them in early summer and I'm jealous. We just have to return!
Have a great trip and PM me if you have questions as you plan.
Thanks for the replys. It looks like we will be leaving home in May and arriving on Newfoundland around June 3. Hopefully, we will see some icebergs and whales. This will allow us to miss the caravans which should help withm campground sites.
Offline
